Routine meeting handled swiftly

SANDPOINT — Bonner County Commissioners breezed through a comparatively routine agenda approving contract agreements, annual updates, and county maintenance.

Commissioners began the meeting by approving the consent agenda containing two minor land divisions, a liquor license, a catering permit, and minutes from the last meeting.

The Clerk’s Office gained the commission’s approval for claims and demands batch spending for the county and Emergency Medical Services totaling $651,358.52.

Claims and demand batch spending, simplified, are the routine bills, costs, and purchases needed to maintain county services,

Throughout the 26-minute-long meeting, commissioners approved a grant increase for Emergency Management, a lease agreement and additional conflict attorney for the Public Defender's Office, and records destruction for the Treasurer’s Office.

Additionally, the commission approved a Human Resources request to advertise for open positions within various county departments, approved a Planning Department road waiver for a family land division, and granted approval for the Recreation Department to submit annual reports on two pieces of the department’s heavy equipment.

The final two items in the public portion of the meeting came from the Commissioner’s Office. The first approved the auction of 13 parcels of endowment land near Priest Lake. The ongoing process is managed by the Idaho Department of Lands. The commission voted to respond to the State Board of Land Commissioners that they have no objection to the auction.

The second item approved the annexation of 5-acres of land from the East Priest Lake Fire District, to the Coolin Cavanaugh Bay Fire Protection District. The purpose for the annexation is to improve response times to the area in case of an emergency. The properties are located on East Coolin Cavanaugh Bay Road.

The county publishes all upcoming meetings on their website at BonnerCountyID.gov, or physically in the lobby of the administrative building located at 1500 U.S. 2. For those who wish to provide comments to county officials about any of the topics mentioned in this article, contact information can be found on the county’s website. An archive of previous meetings can be found on the Bonner County YouTube channel.